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    Suite Française
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    Suite Française
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    Suite Française
    Audiobook13 hours

    Suite Française

    Written by Irene Nemirovsky

    Narrated by Daniel Oreskes and Barbara Rosenblat

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A lost masterpiece of French literature, this epic novel of life under Nazi occupation was discovered 62 years after the author's tragic death at Auschwitz. Originally intended to be in five parts, the two that form this work are complete in themselves. Part One, "A Storm in June," is set in the chaos and mayhem of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Part Two, "Dolce," opens in the provincial town of Bussy during the first influx of German soldiers. Each part features a rich cast of characters-people who never should have met, but come to form ambiguous relationships as they are forced to endure circumstances beyond their control.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    TranslatorSandra Smith
    Release dateNov 1, 2009
    ISBN9781598871395
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Suite Française

    4/5

    2,415 ratings176 reviews

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    • 5/5
      It is hard to separate my response to the author's tragic story from my response to this novel.What an extraordinary work. We want so to keep reading. The author's own tragic story is even more compelling than this too-short novel.This is an epic story of WW II and the occupation (by Germany) of France. The author, who was Jewish, was killed at Auschwitz after completing only the first two parts of a planned 5-part novel.Her writing is sensual - full of sights, sounds, tastes, texture, smells. She tells of the mundane everyday struggle for normalcy against a backdrop of war.It's an extraordinary work - the abrupt ending left me hungry for more!How sad that the world lost such a great talent.
    • 4/5

      Book Description

      Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940. Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.When Irène Némirovsky began working on Suite Française, she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. For sixty-four years, this novel remained hidden and unknown.

      My Review This is a gripping, moving, and unforgettable story of the World War II German occupation of Paris. The characters are very real and her description is vivid with detail as she captures these human experiences. If you enjoy books about World War II, I suggest you read this thought-provoking book.
    • 4/5
      too many characters. hard to keep track.
    • 5/5
      41. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky (397 page e-book, Read July 9-22)Instead of the book in mind I have the introduction from the French edition by Myriam Anissimov (which is at the very end in my Kindle Edition), and then the journal notes Nemirovsky wrote as she wrote the book, where, somewhat awkwardly, we read things she almost certainly never intended to share, her private thoughts on how the book would evolve, including the parts she was never able to write.But before all that I read the terrific first two parts of a projected four or five part, 1000 page novel, one Nemirovsky saw as an effort toward a masterpiece. With vivid, and often hysterical characters, she chastises all ranks of Parisians for what is exposed as they flee Paris in front of the German invasion in 1939. This is easy reading, but fun and striking. In the second section she writes of occupation with the same penetrating depth of observation, but with a sincerity that rises above the humor.I wonder what to make of the sum total, this window in France under German occupation, unfinished because the author was exterminated. This is not a political work. There is nothing Jewish in the novel, and there is nothing inhumane about the Germans. They are merely flawed young men, soldiers. It is a very human book, and it does, as she hoped it would, reach something timeless. This book is as good now as it would have been in 1942, or will be to one who, in some future somewhere, won't have any clear notion of this world war.
    • 4/5
      Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky; Sandra Smith, translator; (4*)Nemirovsky wrote this horrendous yet wonderful book as she was living it. There is no other explanation for the absolute realism she achieves. The first part of the book (only 2 of 5 parts were completed) tells how people sometimes live & behave in a major life changing crisis. At first everyone helps out and shares what they have. Later it becomes everyone for himself. People will steal, loot & even kill in order to preserve their own lives & those of their loved ones. The first part of the novel/memoir concerns the evacuation of Paris as the German army invades. There is no one protagonist and the story is woven back and forth among many people; people whom the reader feels were intended to become connected later in the book. One gets the feeling of overall confusion and chaos along with their effect on the characters. This portion of the book felt so real to me. The second portion of the book takes place during the German occupation. Both the author and her husband were deported and died at Auschwitz and the book was never finished. Strangely there is barely any mention of anti-semitism and there are no Jewish characters. Nemirovsky was a stateless Russian Jew in France at the time of the Nazi invasion which was most likely the worst position anyone could be in at the time. Her prose is lovely and the story is breathtaking. My thoughts upon finishing this novel were that the author most likely found the writing of it to be quite cathartic. It is sad that she was unable to survive the camps and live to share more of her work with the world.
    • 5/5
      This book is a masterclass in novel writing by one of the great authors of the 20th century. It should be taught in every creative writing degree program.This was my method of studying her work. The book has 2 parts (A Storm in June and Dolce) and includes 2 appendices. Appendix A is Nemirovsky's notes on how she was planning to develop the novel further. I would recommend reading the book first then her notes. I copied the notes and keep them close at hand while re-reading the text. I took note of what she thinks are the manuscript's strengths and weaknesses, and what changes she wanted to make to the content. She planned on the final novel being about 1000 pages long and to have 5 sections. She also mentions how long she wanted each section to be. I looked at each section's current length and tried to figure out how the section might be shortened while preserving the mood and theme of the section. It helped me to understand the function of a first draft and how to approach edits of my own work.
    • 4/5
      A two part novel, the first part deals with Parisiennes fleeing their city upon the German invasion. Different characters provide snapshots of how the mass exodus affected the population.
      The second part paints the picture of a rural French village under German occupation and the reluctant and uneasy relationships that grown between the occupiers and their hosts.
      This books really highlights the individuality of people as well as portraying herd mentality, an interesting comparison.
      I found it an engaging and subtle read and very enjoyable.
    • 5/5
      This book is worth every once of hype it got when it came out. For those that missed it, this is a translation of the recently discovered manuscript by Nemirovsky. A French Jew, She wrote it in the summer of 1942 and was working on it when she was deported by the occupying Nazi forces. She died shortly thereafter. It was supposed to be a 5-novel Suite and she only finished the first two-- Storm in June and Dolce before she was taken. This edition carries both novels as well as her journal entries for the summer (detailing her plans for the unwritten volumes as well as changes she wanted to make to the previous two, as they are still just drafts.) It also carries her correspondance of the time period (as she tried to get funds after her publisher was barred from paying her royalties because she was Jewish) and that of her husband and various people after she was taken as they were trying to get word on her condition.But turning to the novels themselves... Storm in June covers the flight from Paris as the Nazi forces approach. Large columns of refugees of different social standings tell their entertwined stories as they travel south. Nemirovsky's cast of characters is huge and their stories are all the same, yet all different as the real lives of Parisian refugees were. Their terror and panic as they travel the countryside is palpable. She follows in Dolce focusing on a French village we met in Storm in June as they deal with the occupation. Some village members oppose the German forces, and some support them. I was amazed at how humanely she treats those who cooperate. Their reasons for doing so are multi-fold and deep and well thought out with no hint of rationalization.Althought the storeis are entertwined, she avoids the obvious ways she could have intermeshed these lives further, which makes her work all the more wonderful. She paints the citizens of her adopted country (she emigrated to France from Ukraine) and its landscapes and daily life with close attention to detail and a beauty and lushness of language. These drafts of novels are more polished than several books I have read lately.One can only hope that the success of this book will lead to more translations of her earlier work, as this is an author that deserves more recognition in the English world.
    • 5/5
      In the first part of the novel, Storm in June, the myriad population of Paris react to the impending German occupation by packing whatever they can and escaping the city by whatever means possible. Némirovsky portrays the alarm, fear, trepidation so well that the packed roads are easily imagined. Amid the panic there is the badly planned packing, the forgotten items, the assumption that all would be well elsewhere, that restaurants and hotels would be operating as usual, that petrol would be available. Within the chaos there are little moments of humour that are so unexpected in such a harrowing tale, yet completely natural. There are swindles, thefts, deceptions, anything necessary to evade occupation. Then the realization that there is no escape and for those who survive, eventual acceptance - of a kind. Némirovsky wrote with astonishing acumen and perspicacity, even her description of the cat's experience was remarkably perceptive.In Dolce the Germans arrive to be billeted in a small town where the inhabitants have been able to hide some of their valuables and buried the best wine. But these Germans are gentlemen, and accordingly they must be treated with civility, no matter how feigned it might be. Over time, there is a certain level of acceptance, even admiration by some for the Germans. But for most of the French the unknown is frightening, they are walking on eggshells while waiting for what else might come. There is always the urge to resist while appearing to comply. The range of human emotions portrayed is immense. It was intended to be a sequence of novels but before this compelling book was finished Némirovsky was arrested and sent to a concentration camp where she died one month later. Her daughters were able to preserve the unfinished manuscript in the form of a tiny notebook written in minuscule handwriting, but it was not until 1998 that they realized what it was. Her tragedy may have added to the book's acclaim, but it does not change the fact that this is an outstanding work.
    • 5/5
      An amazingly descriptive book dealing remarkably with the many emotions of the time in a clear and understandable way. It was made more poignant by the authors own fate at Auschwitz.
    • 5/5
      Set in France, this book is in two parts. Part one - Storm in June - depicts the panicked evacuation of Paris and the surrounding area as France surrenders and the Germans occupy. Part two - Dolce - depicts life in a small rural town during the German occupation. Part one is tense and rushed and there are bombs and planes and people dying. Part two is calm, quiet, but with a sense that life could go on just as it is forever. I thought that the endless calm of occupation was just as gut wrenching as the tension and fear of the first part. Most of the characters are unrelated, or only vaguely intersect. While this makes the flow of the story choppy, as a device it enhances the sense of uncertainty and the randomness of events. I thought this book was more of a study of human nature; how beliefs translate into action or inaction and how humans respond to stress, than a story of actual people or of the War specifically.
    • 5/5
      This book was so beautifully read that I could listen to it again; so beautifully written that one day I should sit down to read it in print and savor every sentence. Nemirovsky paints a picture of what it was like to be in France at the beginning of World War II -- before they knew it was World War II -- still completely innocent of the atrocities the war would bring -- yet already rich with foreshadowing about who would be in the Resistance and who would collaborate. A Dickensian cast of characters, good and evil and human, making choices at a time when there was still some freedom to choose --
    • 5/5
      Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky is a brilliant but sadly unfinished tale set in occupied France in the first years of the Second World War. Nemirovsky, who was Jewish, was killed in a concentration camp having only written two of her five planned novels. The first book follows several Parisians on the days after France falls to the Germans, and the general exodus from the capital city ahead of the arrival of German troops. The second book is set in an occupied agricultural village where a regiment of German soldiers is billeted, and tells of the relationship between the conquerers and the villagers. It is a beautifully detailed story, full of description, so vivid that I could, with ease, picture characters and homes and fields throughout, which only increased the attraction of the book. Although the novel is classified as historical fiction, I think that is important to remember that it was written during the Second World War and is probably very close to fact, given that Nemirovsky lived in Paris when France was invaded by Germany. There is undoubtedly verisimillitude in the intricate tales, and first-hand knowledge of the availabilty of food and the conditions of the people taking part in the general panicked rush from Paris to the countryside. Although it is lively fiction, it is also partly historical document, and a lot can be learned from it. I really enjoyed this book. It was a slow read, as the novel unfolds gradually, and because I had such a busy week without much time to read, so that I kept having to go back a few pages to figure out what was going on when I'd put the book down two days ago. I became very attached to some of the characters, particularly the Michauds and Lucile. This is a book that I will read again, and which I will recommend to others.
    • 5/5
      A must read. Wonderfully written. Horrible story behind the story.
    • 3/5
      Nemirovsky was born a Ukrainian Jew. By the time of WWII she was already an accomplished writer. When the Germans invaded France she hid and began writing this book. It was not finished by the author as she was found and transported to Auschwitz, where she died. I think the author's story was more compelling than the actual book. The book is written in 3 parts, of which only 2 were actually written by the author. I did not really enjoy part one, as they were "short stories" about different people that revealed their character during a time of crisis. It picked up a little in parts two and three, but again, it wasn't compelling and I had to force myself to finish this book. I kept hoping that it would get uber interesting, but I didn't find it so. Definitely not riveting and no climax. However, given the circumstances under which most of this was written, perhaps my critique is too harsh. Perhaps this wasn't the final product that the author envisioned. 416 pages
    • 4/5
      A book that is hard to rate because it is incomplete. But the first two sections are quite good; the first dealing with the invasion of France in 1940 the second the occupation thereafter. The part with invasion is accurately and vividly portrayed, a bit heavy on the story lines, I think there are five, that sometimes intersect but not always, The occupation part is quite sympathetic to the Germans, portraying them not as monsters but quite civilized. Ms. Nemirovsky seems to leave out the Jewish question entirely, odd since she herself is one, and increasing restrictions against them. But perhaps she would dealt with them later as the book is incomplete.
    • 5/5
      This novel contains two separate parts related through setting and time period. The first is a story of the attempt to flee France in advance of the German invasion in 1940. The second is set in rural France during the German occupation and tells of how the families of the town interacted with the German soldiers.I have read reviews that say some people are tired of books set in World War II. Here’s my attempt to convince them to at least consider this one:-It was written contemporaneously (in 1940-1941).-It is not just a modern story using the war as a backdrop.-It is set in occupied France and provides a first-hand perspective. -It is not a book about horrors of the concentration camps. -It is beautifully written.-It is historically significant. The author was a Jewish woman who was killed at Auschwitz in 1942, only a year after she finished the first two of what were supposed to be five segments of Suite Française. Her children brought out the manuscript and it was finally published in 2004.I appreciated the many small and poignant scenes that provide a sense of the shock and denial experienced by people in the face of imminent war. For example, as a family begins to flee their home, the servants are packing the car: “If you listened closely, you could hear the sound of planes in the sky. French or enemy? No one knew… It was impossible to make the servants listen to reason. They were trembling with fear. Even though they wanted to leave too, their need to follow a routine was stronger than their terror, and they insisted on doing everything as they had always done when getting ready to go to the countryside for the summer holidays…They were living two different moments, half in the present and half deep in the past, as if what was happening could only seep into a small part of their consciousness, the most superficial part, leaving all the deeper regions peacefully asleep.” The Notes at the end bumped the rating to 5 stars, as they are a moving testament to a real family’s tragedy. They include the author’s plans for the rest of the novel and letters written by her husband to the authorities after she was arrested, trying to find out where she was being held. His emotional pleas are heart-breaking. It is a real example of just one of many tragedies that occurred during the Holocaust.
    • 5/5
      There are 333 reviews listed on LibraryThing and so I need not add much to what has already been said. I am therefore just going to give my impressions of this excellent book. Némirovsky was born in Kiev, she was jewish, but by the time she was writing the Suite française she had lived in France for over 20 years and had become a french national and converted to christianity. The first book tells of the flight from Paris just before the nazi invasion in 1940 and the second depicts a small town under Nazi occupation in 1941. Two events of which Némirovsky had first hand knowledge.The story of the flight from Paris: 'tempête en juin' tells the story of several peoples experiences as the sought to escape the Nazis. There is the wealthy family Pericaud in their charabanc of cars taking everything they can with them, including Arthur the cat. Gabriel Corte a famous and well connected author is fleeing with his mistress. Charles Longelat a wealthy collector of porcelain and finally the banker Corbin and two of his employees les Michauds are all on the road. A good mix of the layers of society of Paris, who meet other people along the way in the confusion of the flight. It is the confusion in the fog of war that is well depicted here. The Germans are faceless invaders, bombing, shelling and strafing the towns and the countryside, the only soldiers that are met are the rags and tags of the defeated french army. Nemirovsky skilfully changes her POV from one character to another, including a memorable sequence describing Arthur the cat adapting to his new territory.The second book Dolce is the more involving of the two books. A small town adapting to life under German occupation. The shortage of men who have either been killed or are prisoners of the Germans; place intolerable pressures on the women folk left behind. At the time 1941 after the defeat of the french army and the signing of the armistice it would appear that the Germans would be in France for some time. To what extent should the French citizens collaborate with the occupiers? Némirovsky observes that collaboration was more likely to occur in the upper levels of society. The rich and well connected town folk were more interested in keeping hold of their wealth and their position in society than being patriotic french citizens. They had more in common with the higher ranking German officers than the working citizens in the town.The book was written more or less contemporaneously by the author who was murdered in the gas chambers in 1942. At the time of writing she did not know the outcome of the war and so her viewpoint was not affected by subsequent history. Again in the second book she is able to change her POV from character to character, emphasising the enormous gaps between the high born, the nouveaux rich, the tradespeople and the agricultural workers.A revealing document and some excellent writing make this a five star read.
    • 5/5
      How come I didn't know the author or this book, I asked myself? Turns out the text went missing when the author was sent from occupied France to Auschwitz in 1942, only rediscovered about 2004, with Sandra Smith's excellent translation published in 2006. Now regretting that I have neither the time nor the language skills to read the original French. What writing.
    • 4/5
      Irene Nemirovsky was a very talented writer. This unfinished book (due to the author's arrest and subsequent death at Auschwitz in the summer of 1942) is well written with rich descriptions. There is a large cast of characters that can be a little hard to follow at times.
    • 4/5
      This is an interesting and tragic story of German-occupied France, made more heartbreaking by the book's unfinished nature and the author's untimely death in a concentration camp.
    • 4/5
      Given that Wine of Solitude left me feeling hugely underwhelmed, I'm glad I took on board the recommendations to still give Suite Francaise a shot. What a hugely different book in terms of writing style. Fantastic characters - tick. Good pace to the narrative - pick. Page-turning - tick. Everything Wine of Solitude wasn't.Set in occupied France during WWII, Suite Francaise consists of two separate parts. In the first we journey along with a number of different characters from Paris as they hastily exit the city upon hearing that the Germans had broken the Maginot Line. The wealthier have the resources to open up more options in their exodus than those who are forced to flee on foot, but war is indiscriminate and all are ultimately impacted one way or another.The second part of the novel takes place in a small French village that is occupied by German soldiers and is a window into the complicated relationships between the occupiers and the occupied. Nemirovsky affords humanity in her depiction of the Germany soldiers as fathers, sons and husbands who treat their hosts with respect and politeness. Whether this is something Nemirovsky truly felt we will never know - she knew she was at high risk when writing the novel as a Jewish Russian exile living in France.And there, after the second part, the novel ends. Nemirovsky intended the novel to be made up of 5 parts, with each part connecting the characters, but sadly she was sent to Auschwitz and never got to write the remaining 3 parts.It's an incredibly affecting book, so much more so given the poignancy that the author was writing about the very enemy which would shortly send her to her death. I've not read any other WWII fiction which tells the story of what it was like to live in occupied France, and I doubt any could hold a candle to the authenticity of Nemirovsky's real-life experience.Often during the year I read books which are enjoyable but not necessarily great page-turners. It was a joy to pick up a book that was simply a great read whilst also being hugely thought-provoking. It's incredibly sad that both Nemirovsky and her husband both died in concentration camps. Who knows what other remarkable work she would have written, and how she would developed this book and tied all the different parts together.4 stars - simply a great read that brings this side of the war to vivid life.
    • 4/5
      Half way thru, uniquely powerful book. Story of the evacuation of Paris in 1940 on the invasion by the Germans told thru very different groups of people: parents of soldiers, the wealthy, the workers, the servants, the children, a cat!, etc. Némirovsky herself, already an accomplished novelist in Paris before the war began started this "suite" after the invasion, finishing two of five parts before being shipped off to Auschwitz where she was killed.

      Finally finished the book. Hugely powerful. The second "suite" takes place in one small country village with the relatively peaceful German occupation of which, and the boarding of German officers in private homes; this section ends with the 1941 invasion of Russia with the Germans being called away.

      An astoundingly powerful book. Nemirovsky's depictions of the Germans, and the differing views and opinions and actions of the French
      regarding the Germans is delicate and moving and exceptionally thought-provoking. And then, to know her fate! Whew. Hugely recommended.
    • 4/5
      The mass exodus from Paris in 1940, a woman falling in love with a German soldier, then agreeing to hide a man wanted by the German army - hmm, sounds almost like The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah! Unfortunately, Irene Nemirovsky never got to finish her magnum opus, based on her own experiences of occupied France, and the two movements that were published, posthumously, are renowned in part for the author's own tragic story. Nemirovsky was arrested for being a Ukrainian Jew, despite living and working in France for most of her life and converting to Catholicism, and was murdered at Auschwitz in 1942, aged 39.Told in two parts, although five 'movements' were planned, Suite Francaise describes the Paris exodus of 1940 through the experiences of various families, some more sympathetic than others. Humdrum, often humorous, events are contrasted sharply with heartbreaking realities and occasionally gruesome deaths - a priest looking after a group of boys is murdered and a man is run over in the street. The second part, Dolce, is more plot driven and introduces a small town occupied by the German army, including Madame Angellier and her daughter in law Lucile, who falls in love with the German officer billeted to stay in their house. Lucile and Bruno are the focus of the screen adaptation of the novel, which I am keen to watch next!Beautifully written, and from life not Wikipedia - how I wish that the author had been able to finish her work and enjoy the success she deserved.
    • 4/5
      This is a fascinating collection of stories about the coming occupation of Paris and the interaction of the "common" people of France to German soldiers in their midst.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully lyrical. This volume contains two of the planned five stories. Be sure to read the very moving appendices at the end.
    • 4/5
      I still want to read the notes and letters in the appendixes, but I'm finished with the main duet of novels.

      Tempete en Juin follows different families as they flee Paris ahead of the German invasion. Most will be driven back and they experience kindness and cruelty on the way.

      Dolce takes place in a village, about a year later when the inhabitants have to billet German soldiers for three months. The most tension forms around the fact that these are young men and the young women of the village have not seen any for a while. The way that the relationships develop differs for each family.

      I could be biased by the history of the author, who was there for the invasion and did not survive the war, but I felt like a had a real window into history and how people were at that moment and place in time. It's beautifully written. What an amazing treasure that her daughters were able to save.
    • 5/5
      A literary powerhouse. By far, one of the most moving and mesmerizing novels that I have ever had the pleasure to come across. The story takes you along the path as if you were there and all the little moments come across as whispers across the void that World War II has set into place. There are tragedies and sorrows, loving and friendship and victories and defeats. This is an AMAZING book that should be read by anyone who has any interest in the author or the subject matter. In-fact, it is such a illuminating tale that I believe it should be read by ANYONE who is studying the era. Nemirovsky met a tragic end, but her angelic wings still shine through in this piece-- and that is something that no one can ever take away from her. I would give this more than five stars if I was able.
    • 3/5
      This is an unfinished novel in two parts (originally meant to be in 5 parts), written by a Russian woman of Jewish background, who had been living in France as a Catholic for a number of years. Nemirovsky was killed in Auschwitz in 1942 before she could finish the book. The novel focuses on regular people in France during WWII. In the first part of the book, people are being evacuated from Paris. They later return, only to have to share their homes with German soldiers. The book was o.k., but I really only found one small storyline particularly interesting... really one character. There were a lot of characters, but because the book wasn't holding my attention, I couldn't really keep them straight. The only reason it is getting 3 stars is for that one storyline. There was a note at the end of the book about Nemirovsky's own life, which to be honest, I found more interesting than most of the rest of the book.
    • 5/5
      Wow.I read half of this when it was first published in English, and lost it to a library queue. I started over, needless to say.This story is incredible. That she was writing it essentially as it was occurring is more amazing. The story of the manuscript's survival is amazing (her elder daughter carried it with her in hiding in France, thinking it was a diary, not a manuscript). The notes she wrote about the rest of her planned 5-book work are so enticing. But of course she did not get to finish, being arrested just a day after her previous notes on the next book. And obviously she was not able to help refine the manuscript for publication. Yet it flows and is fascinating--though she clearly set out her goals in her many notes.———The first book, Storm in June, captures the many classes of people fleeing 1942 Paris for the countryside as the Germans are coming. We meet members of several different families--rich and poor, upper middle and working classes. Each have their own concerns: their stuff, their children, food. The second book, Dolce, examines the people in a small occupied French town. Most families have German soldiers living with them, many of husbands and sons who are POWs in Germany. The balance everyone tries to strike between French/German is tenuous. The balance between upper class rich landowners, landowner/farmers, farmers, and tradesmen adds an additional layer of loyalties (or not) to the book. Some of the characters from book 1 are mentioned.If Nemirovsky had been able to finish her 5 books, we would have seen the same characters loop back into the story. Her notes are interesting, as she did not yet know where the story would go--it depended on what was happening in the actual war. Book 3 was beginning to take shape in her mind, but does not appear to have been begun.———Nemirovsky was a well-known and well-regarded French writer before the war. Those earlier books may be worth looking for.